What the World Was Watching: WWF Sunday Night Slam – 11.20.94

Stan Lane and Gorilla Monsoon commentate the show, taped from Bushkill, Pennsylvania on November 8. It is the WWF’s replacement for the Survivor Series Showdown that aired in previous years on USA Network. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, 1,500 fans attended. It is odd that the WWF went with Monsoon and Lane to call the show since Lane was tossed off the commentary of Wrestling Challenge after July 3.

Opening Contest: The Smoking Gunns (21-2-1) beat the Heavenly Bodies (w/Jim Cornette) (17-0) when Billy pins Tom Prichard after a crucifix sunset flip at 12:28 shown:

This serves as a blowoff of the Gunns-Bodies feud that has been going on since September. The Gunns get a long shine that includes their side suplex-leg drop move that Lane dubs the Roundup. Bart gets placed in peril when the Bodies get him near their corner. The Bodies do not do much in the way of interesting double teams, opting for some near-falls from what they do to Bart alone. Bart gets a few fluke near-falls to keep things interesting. After a long heat segment he delivers the hot tag after avoiding a Prichard knee drop off the second rope. The Gunns do a double military press slam to Prichard but Jimmy Del Ray superkicks Billy to prevent the Sidewinder. Billy gets thrown into the corner but rebounds out to surprise Prichard with a crucifix into a sunset flip and scores the winning fall. This was a good execution of the tag team formula. It elevates the Gunns to top babyface team. Rating: ***

A video package recaps the Bret Hart-Bob Backlund feud.

Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) (20-5) pins John Crystal after a uranage at 1:06:

The WWF’s political references continue as Lane says that “Yokozuna is bigger than the Republican Party.” The quick match serves as a way to hype the Survivor Series casket match to casual viewers and try to rope in buys by talking about Chuck Norris’ appearance. Yokozuna continues to default to a uranage as a secondary finisher.

The British Bulldog (7-0) defeats Owen Hart (39-3) via disqualification when Bob Backlund interferes at 10:36 shown:

This is another house show feud that has been wedded into the WWF Championship match at Survivor Series and gets a televised blowoff here. There is some token mat wrestling early, won by the Bulldog, and Owen spams chinlocks to keep control in the middle. After a second commercial break, Owen removes a turnbuckle pad that he fiddled with before the match. The Bulldog reverses getting taken into it and slingshots Owen into it as well. Usually that is death but Owen kicks out. Owen feigns a knee injury and before the Bulldog can follow up, Backlund runs in and applies the crossface chicken wing to the Bulldog to cause a disqualification. Owen and the Bulldog would have better matches later. Rating: **½

WWF Champion Bret Hart soon runs in to make the save, ripping off Backlund’s white shirt. He tries to put him in the Sharpshooter but Owen drags Backlund to safety.

The Last Word: The WWF was only given an hour for this show to put over Survivor Series, an hour less than what they had for SummerSlam earlier in the year. That forced them to only give attention to the pay-per-view’s two singles matches and it was wise to give the WWF Championship match more attention as the outcome to the casket match seems preordained. The main event angle was good and the opening match was good too, making this a quality broadcast days before Survivor Series.

The WWF before Survivor Series the WWF ran shows in Germany and Canada. Here were the results of some of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Schwerin, Germany – Sport-und Kongresshalle – November 14, 1994 (3,500): Kwang defeated the 1-2-3 Kid…Bob Holly beat Pierre…Diesel (w/Shawn Michaels) defeated Fatu…Jeff Jarrett beat Mabel via count out…The Smoking Gunns defeated the Heavenly Bodies…The British Bulldog beat Jim Neidhart…WWF Champion Bret Hart defeated King Kong Bundy.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada – The Saddledome – November 18, 1994 (4,000): The Bushwhackers beat Well Dunn…Aldo Montoya pinned the Brooklyn Brawler (substituting for Pierre) at 7:08…Lex Luger wrestled Tatanka to a double count out at 8:19…Adam Bomb defeated Bob Backlund at 10:03…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon defeated Owen Hart at 10:35…Irwin R. Schyster beat Duke Droese (substituting for Doink the Clown)…WWF Champion Bret Hart beat Jim Neidhart at 9:58…The Undertaker defeated Yokozuna (w/IRS) in a casket match.

Backstage News*: WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano worked an American-style match at All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling’s Big Egg Universe at the Tokyo Dome and did not get a good crowd reaction. There was no pop when Nakano defeated Blayze for the title.

-Monday Night RAW drew a 2.7 rating for the 1-2-3 Kid-Bob Backlund main event.

-Jacques Rougeau has now become the WWF’s promoter in Montreal.

-In talent relations news, the WWF has signed Kensuke Shinzaki of Michinoku Pro Wrestling. He will be brought in as a heel. There are continued rumors that the WWF has reached out to the Ultimate Warrior. WWF Magazine has discussed an “ultimate surprise” that could set up a “dream match” with Backlund. The WWF will also keep having discussions with Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for November 28.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for November 21!